But it more immediately concerns the honour and safety of our Indian government to maintain a dignified and imposing attitude in its intercourse with these nations. The existing government having established an everlasting fame, upon the firmest basis, has also raised its honour and its faith to an enviable height. They will doubtless continue to watch over it with the most jealous care.
That the crazy, disjointed, and puny government of Siam should affect to treat the government of Bengal as inferior, and that it should impudently dare to consider an authorized envoy from that state, as a messenger from a provincial government, may well excite our surprise and indignation.
May 6th.—About this period intelligence was brought to court that an ambassador from Cochin China had arrived at the mouth of the river. After crossing the peninsula of Cambodia, he took shipping at the port of Saigon, and, attended by a numerous train of followers, arrived at Paknam in a small fleet of praws. Notice of his arrival was immediately conveyed to Court. The Chief of Paknam was ordered to entertain the ambassador during his stay at that place, and in the mean time the requisite measures were taken for the purpose of conveying him to the capital in a manner suitable to his rank. The festivities of Paknam, though not of the most costly nature, were probably the best the country could afford. They lasted for several days, and consisted chiefly of scenic representations, musical entertainments, and gymnastic exercises.
An event of this nature was calculated to excite attention and awaken curiosity; it was altogether unexpected by us. We were naturally desirous to compare our own situation with that of the Cochin-Chinese, endeavouring thence to form a judgment of the real sentiments of the Siamese respecting the English mission.
What the real object of this embassy may have been, we had no correct means of ascertaining, but the avowed and ostensible one was said to have originated in a feeling of gratitude on the part of the reigning king of Cochin China, for the asylum and protection that had been granted to his predecessor by the King of Siam, in the midst of his misfortunes, when his country was usurped by his own rebellious subjects, and he himself an exile and a suppliant in the land of strangers. He had now sent his ambassador to assure the King of Siam of his good and peaceable intentions, and of his desire to confirm the bonds of amity with a nation which had behaved with so much disinterestedness towards his family, during the anarchy of the civil war which had driven them from the throne.
An embassy which the same king had some time ago sent to the Barman Court had excited distrust and jealousy in the Siamese, who regard the Barmans as their natural and most implacable enemies. Watchful at all times of the conduct of the Cochin-Chinese, and uncertain how the new king of that country might be affected towards them, this unexpected embassy to the Court of Amarapura awakened their fears. An embassy was immediately sent to Cochin-China, for the avowed purpose of discovering the motives of the embassy to Ava, as well as to sound the inclination of the new king towards the Siamese. The present embassy, therefore, might be considered as complimentary to the Siamese, while the distinction with which it was received evidently shewed that they were flattered by it. It would perhaps be deemed more curious than useful or flattering, to contrast the reception which this ambassador, a simple messenger from a comparatively small state, received, with that which had so lately been bestowed upon the mission from the Governor General of British India. It is sufficient to observe, that even the Prince Chroma Chit, one of the principal members of the Government, was known to express his regret publicly that the Cochin-Chinese ambassador should have arrived at such a time, as the English gentlemen could not fail to make unfavourable comparisons.
About a week after the arrival of the ambassador at Paknam, it would appear that all the necessary preparations for conveying him to the capital had been made ready. A numerous set of boats was appointed for his service. In these he embarked with his train of followers, and proceeding by easy stages up the river, treated with entertainments and every mark of distinction and civility by the way, he arrived at Bankok.
The weather was mild and agreeable, particularly calculated to display a procession of this nature to every advantage. The scene, too, was interesting beyond expectation; it was both beautiful and picturesque. The rapidity with which the boats and barges moved, the order and regularity with which innumerable rowers raised and depressed their paddles, guided by the shrill notes of a song that might well be deemed barbarous, together with the singular and barbaric forms, the brilliant colours, the gilded canopies of the boats, the strange and gaudy attire of the men, the loud and reiterated acclamations of innumerable spectators,—gave to the transient scene an effect not easily described.
It was now, for the first time, that we had an opportunity of seeing those singular and highly ornamented royal barges which had attracted the attention of M. Chaumont and suite, ambassador to Siam from the Court of Louis XIV. The description given of them by Loubere, in his Histoire de Siam, will, with very little alteration, apply to those now in use. They are in general from sixty to eighty feet, or more, in length, about four in breadth, and raised about two feet in the middle from the water, the bow and stern rising boldly to a considerable height. They are highly-ornamented with curious and not inelegant devices, all of which are neatly carved on the wood and gilt. The form is that of some monstrous or imaginary animal. In the centre there is erected a canopy, generally well gilt, and hung with silken curtains, or cloth interwoven with gold tissue. The space under the canopy is calculated to contain but one or two persons, the rest of the boat being entirely occupied by the rowers, often to the number of forty or fifty.
The procession moved in the following order: